Chapter 22

"What is it?"

"Not what, it's whom. This is Muffin's ID bracelet. Where are you, sweetie?"

They all looked at the map on the wall. "She's at the Casino," whispered Sally.

Sasha quickly picked up the phone and pressed a speed dial number. "Shawn. We just got Muffin's ID signal back. She's at the Casino."

Sasha pressed the speakerphone button as Shawn's voice filled the room. "We're almost there now. Can you tell which part of the building she's in?"

Harry answered, "Looks like the North side of the property. Let me get you and Bob on the map, and I'll try to direct you. There you are. Keep going. Where are you?"

"We just entered the parking deck."

"Stop! You just passed her."

"I don't see anyone."

"She could be on another deck. Go North from where you're parked. The signal's not moving."

"I don't see anyone here. Bob's going up and I'll go down. Conference our phones so we can keep together."

As Harry pressed buttons, Bob's voice came through the phone. "I'm in. You see any movement on Muffin's part?"

"Stationary." The three operators watched Bob and Shawn move to the stairs. When their icons moved back to the center of the deck, Harry spoke again. "Shawn, go a little more to the East. Bob, you're in line. Go north. Shawn, now go north. Bob stop. Shawn stop. What's there?

"Trash can," answered Bob. I'm looking through it now. Shit!"

"What's wrong?" asked everyone at once.

"I found her bracelet wrapped in some torn clothes. The clasp appears to be pulled apart by force. I'm going to bring it back with us for testing. When did you notice the signal return?"

"Just before Sasha called you guys. Who ever threw it away just did. I'm running a history on this trace now. We just assumed that she removed it from her arm. Maybe we can get an idea of where she was headed."

"Let us know what you find as soon as you can. Bob and I are going to collar Cy for some more help."

XXXXXX

"We're going to try a new insulin made by a German company. This should last just over 24 hours, so you won't have to have so many shots in a day. We'll give this to you at lights out from now on, but you needed help before then. You need to let us know if you have any symptoms of high or low blood sugar. We are not going to do a lot of testing here. Do you understand? You're going to have to take care of your own disease."

Muffin put her arm around the young girl. "I'll be here for you. We'll get through this."

The nurse looked at Muffin. "Good idea. Help her as long as you're here. It will help take your mind off of what's going to happen."

"What do you mean?"

"You really have no idea do you?"

"No idea about what?"

"Never mind, I've said too much already. Now it's time for you to go back."

At 2:00AM, Jen reached into the back seat of the SUV. "Wake up, Paul. We're at the condo. You take the bags up and fall into bed and finish out your nap. Callie and I will put up the truck and bring up what's left."

"Uh? Oh, Okay." Paul opened the back of the van and pulled out two large suitcases. He carried the luggage into the elevator and to the door of the condo, pressed his hand to the ID plate and said, "Paul Brown."

The female computer simulated voice answered, "Good morning, Paul. Your two lady friends have arrived."

A look of confusion came over his face as he went into the room. "How'd they beat me to the room?"

Suddenly a scream filled the room. Paul dropped the luggage and turned to see a beautiful 20 something girl trying to hide her nudity with her hands and arms. Out of the open door another equally nude, but older and totally wet woman rushed to put herself between the girl and Paul.

The older woman took an aggressive fighting stance oblivious to her state of undress. "You keep away from my child, you pervert?"

"Who the hell are you, and what are you doing dripping all over Callie's carpet?"

The woman took a vase from the end table next to the sofa. "NO! Who are you? I'm not going to let you people hurt my other daughter. You made my poor Muffin into a whore. You're not getting my Starlight too."

"I don't have any idea what you're talking about. I walk into the condo I pay the bills for and here's some crazy woman threatening to hit me with a $10,000 vase. Is this some kind of sick joke?"

"MJ," called Callie from the door, "If you break that vase, I am personally going to break your arm. Now back off and don't threaten my brother in law."

The woman blushed and gently put the vase back on the table. "Oh, I'm sorry."

Callie continued. "Starlight, if you are ashamed of your body put a robe on."

The girl dropped her hands to her side and tired to stare a hole in the carpet. "Yes mam."

Callie turned again to the now meek woman. "Where in the hell do you get off saying we made Muffin a whore? When Ester and I found her she was walking the streets of Vegas giving blow jobs for a bottle of beer, and gang banging college kids for drugs. We saved her life. By the way is that weed I smell?"

"I needed something for my nerves. My boyfriend just threw us out of his place because Starlight wouldn't do him."

"Well, that explains why you're here, but it doesn't explain why you've got drugs here. Where's your stash?"

"Why?"

"Your boy friend isn't the only person who's going to throw you out. We have zero tolerance for drugs in our organization. My enemies are looking for any excuse to close us down. Either give me the drugs, or get the hell out of my house."

"You can't do that. Starlight and I don't have anywhere else to go."

"What happened to all the money Muffin sends you each week?"

"Kenny took it all to let us live there."

"You paid him two thousand a week for rent?"

"Well, he has these problems, and he lost his job."

"You didn't save a penny?"

"Kenny said we owed him."

"Come here!"

MJ slowly walked to Callie.

"Give me your arm."

MJ allowed Callie to lift her arm and look on the inside. "Find anything?" she sneered?

"Open your legs."

"Fuck you!"

"Open your legs." Suddenly Callie tackled the startled woman and pulled her leg back. On the inside of her leg a trail of tiny black dots explained where Muffin's money had gone.

Callie lost control and started to plummet the helpless woman with her fists. She screamed, "You fucking bitch. You put your daughter out for prostitution and then steal her money to pay for your ride on the big "H". I'm gonna kill you. You scum sucking piece of shit."

Paul came out of his stupor and tried to pull Callie off MJ. She backhanded Paul across the face and went back to the semi conscious woman. Suddenly Starlight ran across the room and started hitting Callie. "Leave my mother alone. We'll leave. Don't hurt her. She tried to stop. It's just too hard."

Paul and Jen again tried to pull Callie off. This time Jen grabbed her hair as Paul grabbed her chest and they were able to pull the hysterical woman away from her unconscious victim.

Callie screamed at the top of her voice. "Get the fuck out of my house. I ever catch you here again, and I'll kill both of you. Get out! You're daughter's missing. She could be dead, and you're out having a grand old time getting high. You fucking bitch!"

Starlight turned white. "What do you mean dead? Where's my big sister?"

She ran at Callie and Jen stepped between them and took the girl into her arms. "Sit down, Honey, and let me explain." Jen brought the young girl up on what was happening and then said, "I know this is hard to take after your mother's boy friend tried to rape you, and I'm sorry you had to find out this way."

"Mama lied to you. Kenny didn't throw us out. Mom tried to sell my cherry to him for drug money. Mom left when he called Social Services to protect me. Mom was desperate and told him that if he didn't buy me, she would find someone who would. You don't know this, but that's what happened to Muffin."

"Why would Social Services get involved?" Jen asked, "You're like 22 years old or something, right?"

"I'm fourteen."

"Jesus," whispered Paul as he took off his sport coat. "Put this on." He turned to Callie. "We can't turn them out like this."

Callie had caught her breath and looked at Paul. "Shit. I bloodied your nose." She turned to Starlight. "Star, I'm sorry I lost it. I've almost grown to look at Muffin as my own daughter. Ester and I love her that much. When I saw MJ like this after all that Muffin sacrificed, I just lost it. You don't have to leave."

"Can I call Kenny?"

"What?"

"We've been with Kenny for two years. He's the closest thing I have to a father, and I think he loves Mom. I need to let him know we're safe."

"I can understand that," answered a now calm Callie. "Let him know where you are. What does this Kenny do anyway?"

"I don't know. He does something for the state. Some kind of tax thing male secretary. Mom calls him her "Tax Man" and keeps playing some Beatles record when he's around."

"OH?" asked Paul. "He would have access to business records?"

"I don't know. He's pretty smart. Why?"

"We're here to try to trace some money movements that we think may have something to do with a project your sister was helping us with."

An hour later, the tall skinny stereotype cowboy with Texas style boots and a brown and orange silk western shirt was stretched out in the large living room occasional chair. The shine on the western boots, resting on the coffee table, reflected the worn but clean blue jeans that hung from his six foot seven inch height. A huge Stetson rested on his knee and was held there by sun burned hands. His long angler chin seemed to point at Paul as he asked, "Let me get this straight. You want me to go through the incorporation papers of the Desert Industry Corporation to make sure that there is nothing strange, see if there are any filings of intent to assume control of it, and to see if any tax money is missing? Is that all?"

"No. There is another strange thing that may relate to this case. There is a Gentlemen's Club that may be involved in this also. I want to know if there is any connection. To do this, we need to know who the owners are, and what other interests they have."

"And, how does this find Muffin?"

"We're not sure it will. We are trying to pull 4 separate incidents together, and the most logical way to do this is to follow the money. We know the Casino is being ripped off. Muffin was working on a sting with us there. When my brother and I went into this club, they showed information that would link them to the sting.

"Now the original theory is that someone grabbed Muffin and will try to contact us with some demands, but that hasn't happened yet. The longer we wait for an answer, the less likely that's going to occur.

"There was a woman killed in the Casino recently. The Los Angles Police tell us the husband was just arrested for trying to sell his two kids. Story he tells is that the reason they were in Las Vegas in the first place was to call off the purchase. That's why he thinks his wife was killed. He wanted to get rid of the kids so he wouldn't be next.

"The other problem is that my step daughter is missing also. There is some indication that she was involved with some child porn stuff. We don't know the full extend of this, but my niece was almost involved in the same operation."

Kenny scratched the stubble on his chin. "I may be just a stupid cowboy, but I don't see how all this stuff relates."

Paul sighed. "It may not, but it may. We don't know until we do some searching. Will you help us?"

Kenny looked at an anxious Star. "Don't know if it'll do any good, but I just can't say no to something that will help that little girl. Count me in. I may be able to call in favors and get some help on this."

"If you need, I'll reimburse the State for any expenses incurred."

"If this helps find those children, that's all the pay I need. Why don't you go down to the office with me tomorrow, and you can explain everything to the people who work for me."

"Do you want me to talk to your boss?"

"Nah, the Governor ain't gonna be worth a shit doing this work anyway."

"Your boss is the Governor?"

"Well technically, the Secretary of State is an elected position in Nevada, but I let the Gov. think he's in charge since we're from the same party."

"You're Nevada's Secretary of State?"

"Didn't Star tell you?"

"She said she didn't know what you did."

Star looked at her feat and muttered, "I don't care that you're somebody's secretary. You're important to me. Darn it, it's not funny."

Kenny looked at Star with the look a proud father would give an adoring daughter. "You know honey that is the nicest thing anyone has ever said to me. Thank you." Kenny looked at Paul. I'll pick you up at 6 in the morning. Get a good night sleep, because I'm gonna work your ass off."

Cindy stood next to the bound woman. "Well, Gloria, you look comfortable. You still want to do me, Baby? No? That's OK. I have two little girls that are going to be more fun than you anyway. Too bad about the baby sitter, she might have been fun if that idiot hadn't broken her neck. Wish I had been there, I've never seen anyone fuck a dead body before."

Gloria tried to spit the strapped ball out of her mouth as her eyes spread in anger and freight. She fought the bonds on her arms and legs and arched her hips off the cross. A muffled whine escaped around the gag.

"Oh, don't worry. We won't harm the girls. They are worth too much money the way they are. My guess is a quarter million each. Young white virgins are at a premium right now. Most likely they'll end up in central Asia for a while until the drug king that buys them gets tired of them. Then there are the kiddy cathouses. The Japs love young white girls. We are even seeing Americans joining their European and Asian brothers in those houses.

"That's a nice business. We even have guided tours of the regional houses. 50 grand and the lucky pervert gets two weeks with a new little girl or boy every night. Oh yes, your little darlings are going to be in great demand for a few years. Once they get too old, though, they will join their mother as a film star."

A man standing in the back of the room shook his head from side to side. "Why do you torment this poor woman?"

"She betrayed me. She was an informant for the Feds. No one does that to me and lives."

"Paul Brown did," replied the man in his South African accent.

"I got his bitch, though. In fact, I just learned I got a bonus. She was pregnant. Two for the price of one, that's better than a sale at Neman Marcus."

"I think the reason I love you is that you are really a sick one. I like that in a woman."

"If you loved me, you'd let me make Gloria's movie."

"You hate enough to lose the money we get for having someone do her?"

"What the hell, we're getting half a million out of her kids. I think I've earned a little R and R. Hey, I'll share her with you. We could do this together. What do you think?"

The South African stroked his chin for a second. "Let me think about it awhile. You know, not that you mentioned it, it could be fun. Let's see what we can get for her. If it's not enough, we just might have a little fun together."

He walked over to Gloria and stroked her breast. "Yes, just a little fun together." He then viciously twisted her nipple and walked away. "We have a ranch to burn down, and I don't want to be late."

As tears of frustration, fear and pain rolled down Gloria's cheeks, Cindy laughed. "I just had a thought. I'm gonna let your kids see you die. Won't that be special? What a treat for them to see their mother as a movie star."

The man picked up the phone from the end table. His single word answer was, "Speak!"